Comics still wonderful in spite of it all

The industry has been asking itself some hard questions recently, and my tweets and email are full of people being depressed about things being so bad. As I always say, the comics industry can be horrid, but comics themselves are eternal. And you know what, when you get down to it the industry isn’t THAT bad either. There are some good eggs out there.

Re. people of the year, I’m just writing to agree totally with you on your ‘anonymous assistance’ part. Having discovered comics only in the last three years, I never cease to be amazed by the generosity and kindness of the people in comics in this country (the UK). In my own profession, industry leaders would not speak to me (and I’m in my 40s and near the top), but it is not like that in comics. I’ll single out some senior guys in comics here: Sean Phillips, Duncan Fegredo, Jock, Peter Milligan, Phil Winslade, Mick McMahon, Rufus Dayglo, Rob Davis, Glyn Dillon, Simon Gane, and others. Drawings, criticism, encouragement and advice and most recently an ‘Is there anything i can do to help?’ I still find this shocking and I’m very grateful for the colossal amount of time people have given me. They really didn’t need to do that. Even things like Marvel portfolio reviews- I know they are meant to be a talent search and all. I met Steve Wacker at the end of this last year in Leeds. It was patently obvious I wasn’t going to work for Marvel, but he still gave me his advice- completely generously and usefully- for free. When you come from an industry where nobody gives anything away, comics is a shocking and special place. Everyone I’ve met so far has been lovely, which is helpful when you are trying to be creative. We should be grateful for this- and I am.

You know, we’re not so bad.

We’ll close out this week with some nice art.

Another page of Sam and Lilah by Jim Dougan and Hyeondo Park, because he’s amazing and his work is beautiful. And comics, like I keep saying, are filled with some of the most awesome, talented people on earth.
More art byAndy Kettler, whose SPX poster we featured earlier.

A page of a textbook comic about the goddess Pele by Kali CiesemierJock’s unused poster ideas for the film HANNA. (See bigger on his page.)

AND a preview of JOHN CARTER: THE GODS OF MARS #1 by Sam Humphries and Ramon Perez. Cover by Julian Totino Tedesco.